The Guardian indicated in his obituary that Denniston had "commissioned some of the most popular novels of the 20th century", while The Telegraph credits him with reversing Oxford University Press's economic misfortunes.
[3] After national service, Denniston took a position in 1950 as a trainee in Glasgow with Collins, rising to head office and becoming an editor.
He held brief positions at Weidenfelt (1973-1975) and Thomson Publications (1975-1977) before settling at Oxford University Press as chairman of the academic division.
According to The Telegraph, Denniston was responsible for rescuing Oxford UP from the dire financial straits in which he found it, with important changes including short run printing and a shifting focus from general publishing to academic and scientific.
[2] Among other authors, Denniston is credited with working with John Le Carré through 16 bestselling novels, Anthony Sampson (with Anatomy of Britain and its successors) and Erich Segal's Love Story.
His labour of love was Thirty Secret Years (2007), describing his father's life and work assembling the team at Bletchley Park behind Ultra, the WW2 codebreaking intelligence system.